In April, Sumi Marie Jenkins was charged after police said she chased her husband with a butcher knife, tried to stab him in the back and choked their daughter.

At a silent auction for a new domestic violence shelter in Oconee County, Keith Jenkins shared his story.

He said the abuse has been going on for years.

“It started with me being slapped, then things were thrown at me, then it progressed to me being hit with a car, and finally to the point where there was a knife in my throat,” said Jenkins.

He said no matter where him and his children run, his wife always finds him.

“Yesterday we moved for the fourth time in a month to get away from her. It's just been a relentless storm of threats and promises of what she is going to do and will do and there is no way to stop her,” said Jenkins.

He says in the last month alone, more than 20 police reports have been filed.

“She gets locked up, two days later she's out and it starts again,” said Jenkins.

Jenkins said there's a stigma associated with domestic violence, and it's even greater when men are the victims.

“It happened to me. I am 6 feet 2 inches and 240 pounds, and she is 98 pounds but look at what happened to me,” said Jenkins.

Safe Harbor, a shelter for domestic violence victims, wants Jenkins to know there is hope.

“I am often asked the question, ‘What about the men?’ There is help for the men. The same help we give the women, we give the men,” said Safe Harbor volunteer Kay Davis.

Davis said the new Safe Harbor shelter, set to open this summer, provides counseling and legal advocacy for both men and women.

They also provide temporary housing for men.

She said Jenkins is taking the right first step by telling his story.

“The whole idea is to stop whispering about it. Let's shout if from the rooftops,” said Davis.

Jenkins said he wants to be the voice of all men in a similar nightmare.

“If somebody today sees this, somebody somewhere, and realizes, ‘Hey, I can do this same thing and get out of a situation,' that may be one less person who dies over nonsense,” said Jenkins.

A ribbon-cutting for the new Safe Harbor shelter will be held in Oconee County on July 8.

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